TOW Rachel and Chandler at Ross' Apartment
by Champers
Summary: PLEASE R&R. This takes place the night after The One With the Girl from Poughkeepsie ...There is at least one more Act to come.I try to stay true to the characters as owned by TPTB and I hope I have succeeded.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue **

_Chandler:_  
Here we are leaving the Rangers game and it's been a really good night but the funny thing is, y'know, I don't think I can even remember the result.  
She's been content for an hour or two, her eyes are shiny like her hair; sheesh! that makes her sound like a red setter. So we're leaving and she's all bouncy and the beers she downed with amazing speed for a girl that slight have made her squeaky and giggly.  
It's Fall and it's night time and it's raining but I'm not cold.

My cellphone rings.

_Rachel : _  
That was fun. I really want a chilli dog. Which is weird because I hate chilli dogs.  
"Chandler. Chandler. Get me a chilli dog!"  
He's on his cellphone. I try to grab it and I'm laughing and he's wrestling me for it and talking and I hear Ross' voice and I'm all Hellloooo Mr Ross! and Chandler's trying to finish the conversation.  
"What's with Dinosaur Guy ?" I say, trying not to sound bitter.  
"He's in Canada."   
"Ooooooh." It must be the beer but this makes absolute sense to me.

_Chandler: _  
So Ross is accidentally in Canada, he's looking for somewhere to stay, and he is worried that his plants need watering, that he may have left his humidifier running, and there may be - Oh My God! - expired yogurt in his fridge. So I promise I'll go over to his apartment (I think have the key). I tell Rache and she insists on coming too.

We are really wet and it takes forever to get a cab.I buy her the chilli dog and she can hardly get it in her mouth and she looks at me and we laugh some more. I don't know when I have ever seen her this chilled.

_Rachel _  
I am sooo drunk.

**End Prologue**


	2. Chapter 2

**ACT I**

_Rachel:_  
I'm falling through the door and he is half laughing at me and half doing some raised eyebrow wrinkled up forehead thing .. I wonder if I am playing up the beer effect for fun , I really want some fun. I stumble in the dark and he puts his arms out to catch me. It's nice.

_Chandler_  
She's surprisingly upbeat considering this is Ross' place and he's her ex.   
She trips and I catch her , and as I do I feel her breath on my neck and there's a hint of perfume,I think it's the same one that Kathy wears .  
Kathy. Where is she tonight ? She hasn't called.   
I'm taking too long letting Rache go.

_Rachel: _  
Nooo, don't let go yet.  
I wait a moment and neither of us laughs or speaks.  
"It's dark in here," I say.  
"Who said that?" he says.  
He doesn't move.  
There's a funny little shooting pain in my stomach, the one you get when you have your first crush and you think of him,and I want the feel of familiar caring arms around me. I am lost, I am lonely,he's right, I shouldn't be alone.  
I am leaning forward, I'm kissing him. I am shaking.

_Chandler: _  
I don't move , not even to turn on the light, I'm scared because I think we've made some sort of connection tonight, and I'm stupid and wrong and haven't learned anything.  
She's leaning towards me and her soft lips are pressing against mine and she has the scent of Kathy, Kathy without the other grown up stuff to deal with, and so help me I am kissing her back.  
I don't know who breaks away first. Our eyes are used to the darkness now. She's beautiful, she's out of my league.  
Why is she shaking ?   
Then I open my mouth.  
"Hey, it's about _time_ you came up for air!"

_Rachel : _  
...aaand there it is.  
"Why do you do that, Chandler, why ? Why?" As soon as the words leave my lips I am regretting them.  
He switches on the lamp.  
"I don't know, why would you kiss your ex boyfriends's best friend, even though you know he's in a relationship, Rachel?"  
Oooh, that's new.  
"You kissed me too, Mister."  
There's a beat, and then we are both smiling at each other because this is all too weird.  
He goes to the kitchen.

_Chandler:_  
I am hiding in the kitchen.  
I check the fridge like I promised.  
"It's OK, there is no expired product in the fridge, the civilised world is safe."  
I come back in with a rather fetching watering can for the plants.  
"Do you know he has alphabetised the cans and jars in his store cupboard? I guess he's more Monica's brother than I thought."  
She nods. "You should see his sock drawer."  
Thinking of Ross' quirks takes me back to college days. I suddenly remember...no, it'll keep.  
She has produced a bottle of tequila and shot glasses and she's lining them up on the coffee table as she sits on the floor.  
"Don't you think you've had enough?" I ask.

_Rachel:_  
"Don't you think you've had enough?"I mimic him.  
But only because he's probably right.  
He sits on the floor next to me in any case, and fixes me with a stare I haven't seen in his face before. By way of explanation I start tumbling out all these words about how I wish I could have a fling, but I don't want some guy from someone's office, but I 'm not really a one night girl, that I want ..what?  
He smiles and takes up the shot glasses and nod towards them.  
"Back in one, Rachel Karen Green."  
And we knock them back.  
"You middle named me, Bing. I need to middle name you back and I don't know what it is."  
"Ahh, you'd have to marry me to find that out."   
And we catch each other's gaze and we are laughing all over again at the very idea.

_Chandler:_  
Tequila.  
Rachel.  
Laughing.  
I'm good.

**End of Act I**


	3. Chapter 3

_Well it's a big, big city and the lights are all out,  
But it's much as I can do, you know, to figure you out;  
And I must confess, my heart's in broken pieces  
And my head's a mess..._

**ACT II**

_Chandler:_  
Tequila.  
Rachel.  
Still laughing.  
I am very, very bad.

"Rachel," I hear myself saying. "This is bad."  
She looks at me blankly and replies, "It is ?"  
"Yes, it is."  
"Oh, " she says all sullen and pouty. "I thought it was fun."  
"It is, that's why it's bad."  
"Ooooooh."   
She thinks for a moment, child-like,as if she is a six year old with an addition problem, and asks me, "Remember when we made out in college?"  
The answer to this is oh yes, yes I do.  
I squeak, "No!"  
She knows this is a lie, she knows that I know that she knows this is a lie.  
"Still carrying that 'Emotional Knapsack' I guess," she teases.  
"Hey I exposed my soul in that song!" I protest. These are the moments I know why I keep my friends close. They are my past and they share my memories.

_Rachel:_  
I have this compulsion to tease him and see how far we can go. I am a bad, bad girl. I reach over and pick up the Tequila bottle.  
"This bottle's not working!"   
"That would be because it's empty, Rache."  
Oh.  
"Do you remember when we met at the bar before it was the coffee house?" I ask.  
I have thrown him! Come back at me now, smartass!  
He looks terrified.

_Chandler: _  
I'm terrified.  
She remembers when I came on to her. She was there with those poodly haired high pitched scratchy nailed girlfriends. She said she wanted a fling. I couldn't get her attention. I never imagined she would remember it. She left, and didn't come back for a year, and by then we had both moved on.  
What does she **want** me to do ?

pause 

_Rachel:_  
I thought about him all the drive home. I'm going to tell him.  
It's like playing with a puppy.  
"In my daydream I came back to the bar," I tell him. "And do you know what I wanted to say to you?" I am practically kneeling on his chest, I have him pinned down, he looks horrified.  
"No," he whimpers."But I think you're going to tell me..."  
"I would have said ... said...I don't want to speak, I don't want to think,..." I kiss his forehead, "...I would have said..I want you to take me, and kiss me.."- I kiss him ...

_Chandler: _  
Oh. My. God. Suddenly there are hands all over the place,and I mean, everywhere. Buttons that were firmly done up are now undone, please Lord, make her stay away from the zipper. I feel like, I am waiting in line for the Tower of Terror or something, I know it's a terrible idea but I don't move from that line because I want the thrill even if it kills me. Which is of course what Joey, Ross and Kathy to name just three, will do if this scene ends up where I think it will unless I stop kissing this girl.  
Her hands are in my hair - ("You can't run fingers through gel," she murmurs) - and I am trying not to think about where my own hands are. It feels good, so good; comfortable; right,but wrong; exciting, but wrong; not wrong enough to stop.  
"You know what I said next?" she asks.  
I shake my head.  
"I told you to make love to me."  
We meet each other's stare and I wonder if she is in just testing me, judging by her face, I don't think she is.

_Rachel:_  
We stare at each other for a million years. I have a dry mouth and my heart and head are a thumping. I don't know if that's the result of too much tequila, or the situation.

Finally we stop staring and kiss so deeply I think I can touch the ocean floor.

Then - his cellphone rings, and we spring apart as if a parent has walked in on us in an illicit teenage clinch. He answers and I know I know _I know _that it is Kathy because his face is softened and his eyes are full of love.

So, into the bathroom, and I am washing my face. I make a mental note - if I can remember any of this in the morning, given how much I have drunk tonight - to avoid tequila in future especially if I ever go to Vegas, I'd probably end up marrying some random guy in an Elvis chapel.  
I think about tonight and I take a deep breath.  
It sounds like his conversation is ending and go back in to face him.

"Hey," he says softly.  
"Kathy ?" I ask just for something to say.  
"Yeah ...She's pissed at me. Says I'm not to go over in this state."  
I look at the floor. "I'm sorry," I say, my voice is a whisper, and I don't think it's just because my mouth is so dry. "I'm sorry. I was nearly your Xerox girl. I don't want to be that person. Especially not for you and Kathy ..."I am crying. I feel alone again.  
He touches my arm and says so very gently, "Rachel, you will never be anyone's carbon copy." He gives that lopsided grin and I smile back in spite of myself. Now he's taking my hand, and I shiver.  
"Rachel, it's not you, it's me, I mean what is wrong with me? Could I be any more stupid? I've crossed so many lines tonight, I think I'm actually in Mexico."  
He shakes his head. I move to hug him.  
"We've had such alot to drink. I was low, you helped me up, and I love you, I will always love you, even if you are glib and a total smartass."  
"Shall we share a cab?" he asks.  
"If you can keep your hands to yourself!"  
I kiss him on the lips and I wonder if this will the last time I ever do.

We get our jackets and turn out the light.


	4. Chapter 4

**EPILOGUE **

Watery Fall morning sunlight filters into a bedroom.  
Chandler stretches and then turns over in his sleep.  
Rachel wakes and silently and deftly slips out of the bed, wrapping a dressing gown around her shoulders, and tiptoes away. 

**END**


End file.
